What could be more
cheerful than a graphic bubonic plague picture? British cult director
Christopher Smith ("Triangle"/"Creep/"Severance")keepsit balanced by mocking both
Christians and pagans. Writer Dario Poloni keeps it at
least somewhat worthwhile sitting through such a
spectacle of misery and ignorance by questioning blind
faith, superstitious belief and mankind's penchant for
violence.

In England, in 1348, at the
onset of the bubonic plague, when its origins were
unknown: the priests said it was God's punishment for
sin and the confused people said it arose because of
witchcraft. A conflicted young novice monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) volunteers
to be a guide for a band of knights sent by the church
to go to a remote village rumored to be spared from
the plague. The soldiers believe a “necromancer” in that
village can resuscitate the dead. He is someone the
brooding devout God-fearing leader Ulric (Sean Bean) aims to kill. The
untouched idyllic
village is
led by a charismatic woman, Langiva (Carice van Houten),
rumored to be a witch. The soldiers' journey to the
village is rife with barbaric killings by the warriors
of anyone suspected of causing the plague.

There's a pause in its
horror tale to have the monk question his belief in
God, as he sent his beloved one to the village for
safety not realizing it's a pagan village. The pic
also shows that there's little difference between the
educated and the ignorant, who are easily swayed by a
strong leader to believe in superstition and approve
acts of brutality to feed their ignorance. But the
questions it raises are not interesting enough for me
to feel it justifies watching such Dark Ages torturous
material. That is, even if it's crisply acted, did
well by creating a creepy period atmosphere and is
well-presented.